West Windsor
He did so calmly, methodically, and, whenever possible, by repurposing old parts.
It’s a skill that served him well as foreman of the golf course at the Woodstock Country Club, a position he held for more than 25 years.
“I had stopped in a few times and he’d have a piece of equipment spread everywhere,” recalled friend Fred Barr. “I’d say, ‘How are you ever going to put that back together?’ He’d say, ‘Oh, I’ll put it back together; don’t worry about it.’ ” And he usually did.
“Anything you needed done, you just asked Hal to do it and he took care of it, no problem,” said Dave Clement, Glock’s first supervisor.
The 69-year-old Glock died on June 11 of heart failure, following years of worsening heart health.
Yet he remained spry till the end.
“To the day he died he was working on the chicken pen,” his widow, Linda, said. “He just didn’t want to stop, because I think he felt that if he stopped, then he would go.”
Originally from Westchester County, N.Y., Glock earned a bachelor of science degree in landscape architecture at the University of Massachusetts and worked at a nursery before decamping to Vermont.
He generally clothed his lanky frame in two or three flannel shirts, topped with a baseball cap. “We all joked about it, Hal and his layers,” family friend Polly Johnson said.
Barr, who had known Linda since childhood, was initially perplexed by Glock.
“What is this guy, this big, tall, skinny guy?” he thought. “It didn’t take long to figure out that he was going to be a good friend. He mellowed right out, wasn’t loud and noisy and showing off or anything. Hal was Hal, and that was it.”
Linda Glock, who grew up Linda Ferguson in Woodstock and South Woodstock, remembers her wedding to Hal as one of the highlights of their relationship.
Two years after going on a fateful blind date, the pair exchanged vows in the library of the former Woodstock Country School.
“We did the wedding ourselves,” Linda said. “We had friends that helped with the food and DJ, and we got married in the back, right in front of very large windows that looked out onto — I think it was a baseball field.”
Longtime Woodstock Town Clerk Fred Doubleday, who officiated roughly 1,400 weddings in his lifetime, presided over the ceremony.
The newlyweds escaped to Mount Washington for a brief honeymoon, but took what Linda described as their “real honeymoon” 28 years later, to Las Vegas, a destination to which they would return twice. While initially uninterested in trying his luck at the slots, Glock was soon converted.
“I can remember when he wasn’t going to play and he was just sitting with his back to a machine and Linda and I were going for it,” recalled Johnson, who accompanied Hal and Linda on the trip, “and he finally, reluctantly turned around and put a five-dollar bill in.”
The result? A hundred-dollar jackpot. Minutes later, he landed a $500 jackpot.
“That hooked him,” Linda said. “I don’t think he’d done as well as that ever since, but he enjoyed it — one of the things that he really enjoyed in life.”
Another thrilling pastime for Glock was riding the Tower of Terror at Disney World.
“I’ve never seen him so excited,” his daughter, Erin, recalled. “That was just the one ride that he always had to go on.”
However, while Glock indulged in the occasional vacation, he remained focused on his work and family. Those close to him describe a man whose dedication to his wife and daughter was paramount.
“He would do and did do anything for Linda and his daughter, Erin, and son-in-law, Chris, and now, of course, the new grandson, S.J.,” Johnson said, referring to Erin’s four-month-old.
While Erin was growing up, Glock attended — without fail — her soccer, basketball, and softball games.
“Every time, she would be the last one out of the locker room,” Linda said with a laugh, “and he would say to me, ‘I wish I could count the hours that I’ve spent waiting for Erin.’ But he didn’t mind it, and that was his way; he was just very patient like that.”
Pet dogs were another enriching part of family life for Glock. When Erin was younger, she and Hal would go sledding with their shepherd-husky mix, Boomer.
“My dad’s feet would be out in front in case he needed to put them down for brakes, and Boomer would run next to us down the driveway biting my dad’s boot the whole way down,” she said. “That’s a pretty vivid memory.”
More recently, he bonded with Linda’s dogs, Rupert and Kiki. Glock’s love for his many canine companions inspired Linda to invite donations in his name to the Lucy Mackenzie Humane Society in West Windsor, where the family lives. Already the organization has collected more than 15 contributions in his memory.
Glock’s agreeable nature won him many fans in the community.
The celebration of his life shortly after he died drew an overflow crowd of more than 200 to the South Woodstock Firehouse; scores of attendees ended up watching the proceedings from outside.
“It was incredible; I just couldn’t believe my eyes,” Linda said.
Glock’s sisters, Connie and Meg, furnished childhood photos for a visual tribute, while friends and kin reflected on his life.
“Elton John and Meat Loaf are his two favorite musicians, so I think we played Elton John,” Erin said.
“We didn’t think Meat Loaf would be appropriate,” she joked.
For Johnson, the large turnout was a testament to Glock’s proclivity for making friends.
“He got along with everybody,” she said. “He got along with people from all walks of life, and he treated them all the same.”
Gabe Brison-Trezise can be reached at g.brisontrezise@gmail.com.